The problem of how to promote your music is one of the main challenges facing any band or musician who wants to be a success. Even when your act or material is established, building your fan base and selling your CDs or mp3s is all about exposing people to your music. Basically, if you don’t know how to promote your music, how will you get people to buy what you write or play?

Learn how to get band bookings from venues

Clearly you’re never going to know how to promote your music at gigs if you can’t get your band booking. So, learning how to do this is a key requirement.

Getting gigs boils down to:

a) Working out what’s different about your band

b) Drawing up a long list of target venues

c) Agreeing between band members how many band bookings you want to play every week or month

d) Creating a demo

e) Hitting the phones to canvas your long list of venues

Oh, and of course… rehearsing.

Get people to come to your gigs.

So, once you’ve mastered the art of how to promote your music to venues, you need to get people in through the door to watch you play on gig night.

You should do this both on and offline. Online, think your Facebook, Twitter and Youtube accounts to advertise your gigs. Also, your own website should be collecting email addresses so you can email newsletters with details of the event. Offline Press releases, flyers and verbally telling everyone you know about your forthcoming gigs.

How to promote your music by playing great shows

Play Great Shows

Many bands and musicians learn how to get band bookings and even then to fill venues on gig night. You can set yourself apart from other acts when you know how to promote your music by putting on great shows every time you play. The key points are:

-Creating the confidence to perform

-Knowing your material inside out (so you can concentrate on the “show”

-Planning the show in advance

and crucially:

-Interacting with your crowd

How to Promote your music by really using the gig

Once you can get band bookings, get people to your gigs and put on a great show, here’s how you can make the most of every gig to promote your music.

1. Use audience reactions to help fine-tune your song arrangements and to test new material

2. Sell your music (CD’s) and merchandise at the gigs

3. Publicise your website and social media at the gigs (think flyers and on-mic announcements)

4. Book repeat gigs at the same venue on gig night itself and publicise this to the crowd

These will all help build your fan-base over time – a key ingredient in knowing how to promote your music.

When you’ve mastered all the above it may be time to:

5. Invite industry contacts to your shows

A&R people if getting signed is your goal, band management or just booking agents for bands if you want someone to handle that side for you.

No matter what your ultimate musical aim is, playing band bookings will do more than help create a buzz about your band and music. When you know how to promote your music this way it drives your motivation and builds momentum for your musical career. And, it will put some extra cash in your pocket at the same time.